Kerry allows Navy release of military, medical records (Navy provided them to Boston Globe)

boston Globe ^ | June 7, 2005 | Michael Kranish

[FairOpinion]

Senator John F. Kerry, ending at least two years of refusal, has waived privacy restrictions and authorized the release of his full military and medical records.

The records, which the Navy Personnel Command provided to the Globe, are mostly a duplication of what Kerry released during his 2004 campaign for president, including numerous commendations from commanding officers who later criticized Kerry's Vietnam service.

The lack of any substantive new material about Kerry's military career in the documents raises the question of why Kerry refused for so long to waive privacy restrictions.

[pepperhead]

Hate to sound like a tinfoil hat wearer but Kerry's records had to be cleansed for him to release them now. And honestly I don't see what good this does him now. The democrats won't renominate this or any other loser for President.

[Flint]

You don't think the Boston Globe would sanitize the file before they make it public? Gimme a break.

I don't know Form 180 from Shinola but I would be that there is a place on it that names who the file is to be given to. Eventually it will come out that no one else can get a copy of the file except the one designated on that form.

[lugsoul]

That's kind of my point - no matter what is provided, it will not be accepted as 'the complete record' unless it contains documents that crucify JF'inK. There will not be any acceptance of a neutral record, or even a slightly critical record, as 'the complete record.' Either it hoists him on his own petard, or it will be deemed incomplete.

That's why I think it is a pointless exercise. I also think it is not entirely consistent with the ease with which many dismiss the absence of documents that 'should' exist from the President's military file. It is simply a fact of life, esp. w/ the government, that documents that 'should' be in a file often aren't. Either that is acknowledged, without the need for some grand conspiracy to explain the absence, or it is not.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Here is SF-180 and the instructions....read instruction #2 very very carefully, which pertains to section 3 of the Form. I would think that using FOIA would be east to get a copy of the SF-180 that he did sign. "signing form 180" does not and never did mean that the specified records were made publicly and widely available.....kerry and the press are playing semantics for all it is worth.......any records "released" by kerry signing SF-180 are limited to those specified and ONLY to persons/orgs designated by kerry. He is still the fraudster king of nuance.

http://www.archives.gov/research_room/obtain_copies/standard_form_180.pdf

[Wristpin]

You're not running for POTUS. In fact it is SOP for just about any politician to release it. What's he hiding?

[Paine in the Neck]

JFnK

Stephen Fry (Jeeves)

Separated at birth?

[Sir Gawain]

Your link doesn't work.

[MinuteGal]

That photo of Kerry reminds me of Laird Cregar's portrayal of Jack the Ripper in that old movie, "The Lodger".

Coming soon to a theater near you, "The Dodger" starring Lurch the Flipper.

Leni

[tobyhill]

"The lack of any substantive new material"

The statement above is very subjective but the BG has done a good job at CYA. Is there no new material or is there new material the BG figures is not substantive?

[Sir Gawain]

I got it to work now.

[tobyhill]

The government expunges records all the time. Since the revolution of the computers it makes it a bit more difficult due to mass storage and never ending servers.

[lugsoul]

Yes. And they (just like others) lose them sometimes. Or things get misfiled. And so on.

Which is why the absence of a document that "should be there" is not evidence of anything at all.

[BushisTheMan]

well, Kerry had two years to clean it up and with the help of his buddies Ted Kennedy and ex-President Carter to get it all FIXED.

[tobyhill]

I do wonder why Kerry chose the BG to get the records and then the BG allowed Michael Kranish to write about it? Michael Kranish assisted in writing the John Kerry Autobiography last year and that alone continues to make questions about the integrity of any such offer.

[bill1952]

This is ludicrous.

How about if Bush had only released his records to RUSH?

[kabar]

I believe the Globe concerning the point that the Navy gave them Kerry's records based on Kerry's authorizing SF 180. What I don't believe is Kranish's analysis of those records. Kranish helped author a sympathetic biography of Kerry before the 2004 election. I will wait until the SBVFT receive those records before drawing any conclusions.

I did find the follow paragraph revealing:

For example, Kerry received his first Purple Heart for action on Dec. 2, 1968. Kerry told historian Douglas Brinkley that ''I never saw where the piece of shrapnel had come from." Kerry's critics have questioned whether the wound came from enemy fire, and his former commanding officer said the wound resembled a ''scratch." The file includes a previously reported reference to Kerry being treated for the wound and that he was awarded the Purple Heart, but it does not address the details of the combat that night. No after-action report for the incident has been found.

Kerry's immediate superiors never recommended him for the PH that night. No after action report was made because there was no hostile fire. The $64 question is who signed the paperwork recommending Kerry for the first PH. Kerry or someone submitted the info after his superiors had departed country. More information is needed and should be in those files. You can bet the SBVFT will be going over these files with a fine tooth comb.

Adm. William Schachte: 'No enemy fire' One of John Kerry's superior officers disputes the circumstances Kerry claims led to the awarding of his first Purple Heart

[kabar]

I do wonder why Kerry chose the BG to get the records and then the BG allowed Michael Kranish to write about it? Michael Kranish assisted in writing the John Kerry Autobiography last year and that alone continues to make questions about the integrity of any such offer.

A number of newspapers, including the Globe and the WP, had FOIA requests in for this info. If Kerry signed a SF-180 authorizing release, anyone can get the info with a FOIA request. Once the SF-180 is signed, Kewrry has no control. What I would like to see is Kerry's signed SF-180 and whether there were any limits or restrictions on the material released. Obviously, Kerry knew beforehand what was in his file.

[sandydipper]

My Uncle Havey just called - you remember him doncha? - the atheiest that died while on a grand drunk out - he said that he had heard they were expecting a freeze tonight.

[griswold3]

That IS a good one!! BOLO for Sandy Berger.

[Donald Meaker]

part of the reason he went to BC was because he couldnt get into Harvard with his BCD self.

Yes, the Carter amnesty was one of the best things he ever bought.